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Teen hopes duathlon victory a stepping stone to bigger competitions

Bobby Ardoin, Special to the Daily World
Published 2:58 p.m. CT March 27, 2018

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Benjamin Beard, 16, of Holy Savior Menard in Alexandria won the duathlon in Opelousas on Sunday, finishing the cycling portion and two two-mile runs in 1 hour and 2 minutes.(Photo: Bobby Ardoin/Special to the Daily World)Buy Photo

Benjamin Beard experienced his first duathlon race in Opelousas last year, and on Sunday he conquered the course.

Beard, a 16-year-old from Alexandria, easily captured the annual event sponsored by the Opelousas Sunrise Rotary Club on Sunday morning.

He led all three aspects of the race — the 16-mile bicycle ride down the Interstate 49 service road past Sunset and a pair of two-mile runs that stretched halfway down Harry Guilbeau Road.

The race led back to the Opelousas General Health Systems South campus, where Beard completed his races in an hour and two minutes.

Beard, who attends Holy Savior Menard High in Alexandria, said Sunday’s competition among the 31 competitors was his second of the racing season.

What he plans to do now, Beard said, is train up for more strenuous events that he hopes will eventually lead to world competition.

“I was second here last year, and now I’m a little more experienced at these races. I’m just now getting back into competition for this year and the goal is to make the world triathlon,” Beard said.

Beard said one of his assets in competing on Sunday was the familiarity with the course, which included moderate hills for the biking event and flat terrain for the foot race.

Beard led all runners during the two-mile race that preceded the biking competition. He ran that in 11:44 and after changing his running shoes to cycling footware, Beard pedaled the course that extended to the Lafayette Parish line in 38.33.2.

Then after changing his shoes again, Beard came in from the second two-mile in 12:37.

At no time, Beard said, was he ever behind in any of the three events.

Not having a racer to challenge him wasn’t a concern, he said. Beard, who also competes in cross country for Menard, said he was aware of Denny’s presence, but he never felt any pressure to maneuver any faster or do anything that would interrupt his pace.

“On the bicycle course, it was kind of difficult because the wind was hitting me on the way out. On the way back it was easy, because there was no breeze,” Beard said.

Duathlon results

Here are the complete results of Sunday’s Duathlon Bicycle and Road Race that began at the Opelousas General South campus.